Leonard Cohen on Australian Radio
Posted: Wed Oct 17, 2018 3:16 am
This morning as I was listening to my favourite podcast, I was pleasantly surprised to hear Leonard's name mentioned and a soundbite played.
"A Word In Your Ear" is a weekly talk back show on ABC Queensland, in which Emeritus Professor Roly Sussex discusses aspects of the English language. The programme originally broadcast on October 13 was about pronunciation and Leonard was used as an example of the different sounds of the indefinite article - either long or short.
The soundbite was the chorus of the studio version of "Anthem" There is a crack, a crack in everything, where LC uses a long A followed by a short A. The clip was played a second time after a brief discussion on the 2 pronunciations within a few seconds. Professor Sussex then said "I wish I had a voice like that", which I thought was a lovely comment.
However... There seems to be no consistency in which way Leonard sings these As. I presume he made a choice depending on how he was phrasing the whole line. Even within the one version of the song, the pronunciation varies from chorus to chorus.
Studio version: Long, Short; Long, Long; Long, Long.
Live in London: Long, Long; Long, Long; Short, Long.
Live in Dublin: Short, Long; Long, Long; Short, Long.
Now there's a bit of trivia to brighten/dull your day!
Alan
"A Word In Your Ear" is a weekly talk back show on ABC Queensland, in which Emeritus Professor Roly Sussex discusses aspects of the English language. The programme originally broadcast on October 13 was about pronunciation and Leonard was used as an example of the different sounds of the indefinite article - either long or short.
The soundbite was the chorus of the studio version of "Anthem" There is a crack, a crack in everything, where LC uses a long A followed by a short A. The clip was played a second time after a brief discussion on the 2 pronunciations within a few seconds. Professor Sussex then said "I wish I had a voice like that", which I thought was a lovely comment.
However... There seems to be no consistency in which way Leonard sings these As. I presume he made a choice depending on how he was phrasing the whole line. Even within the one version of the song, the pronunciation varies from chorus to chorus.
Studio version: Long, Short; Long, Long; Long, Long.
Live in London: Long, Long; Long, Long; Short, Long.
Live in Dublin: Short, Long; Long, Long; Short, Long.
Now there's a bit of trivia to brighten/dull your day!
Alan